Hi everyone. This isn’t the kind of update I ever imagined having to write, but life threw us a curveball this week and we need some help to get through it.

Last night, Brie tripped over one of our dogs and fell hard across the living room. By the time she reached the floor, her right arm had taken the full impact. The ER confirmed a severe spiral fracture running from her upper arm all the way down to her elbow. She’s in a splint right now, and we’ll have a surgery date in the next few days.

The good news is that our insurance is solid. The difficult news is that everything is happening at once. Her surgery will likely be in Lawrence, not Emporia, so we'll have multiple long trips ahead of us. I’ll need to take unpaid time off to get her to appointments and take care of her afterward. She’ll be unable to work for several weeks and most of her leave will end up being unpaid.

We already drained our savings earlier this year while I was underemployed, and although I finally have a steady job, I haven’t been there long enough to qualify for FMLA. My income alone doesn’t cover our bills, the car payment, or the travel costs we’re about to face. On top of that, we’ll hit our insurance out-of-pocket maximum for 2025 before December is over… and then immediately start hitting the 2026 max as treatment and physical therapy continue into the new year.

We’re scared, and we’re doing our best to stay steady, but we can’t do this alone.

If you’re able to help us get through the next couple months of surgery, lost income, and medical travel, it would mean the world to us. Anything helps. Truly.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for caring about us.

At this point, I have no choice